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Samsung looks like it has a woman problem, but it's really a cultural problem. The company's latest Web ad for the Galaxy Gear smartwatch shows the same sort of tone-deaf attitude to the female perspective that we saw in the company's horrible Galaxy S4 launch event. Having more women on its ad team wouldn't fix this. Having more Americans would.

If you don't understand why "Are You Geared Up?" is creepy, let me explain. A lot of it's in the acting. A woman (Aimee) is squeezed between two men on a ski lift, looking visibly uncomfortable and like she wants to get out of there. One of the men (Jack) asks for her number; she looks nervous and reluctantly gives it to him. She warms up a bit, says goodbye, focuses on her snowboarding ... only to discover later that he's been creepshotting her with his Galaxy Gear all along, with a look of mastery on his face. He then pops up like a bad penny to show her, "Look at my hot stalkery stalker-photos of you!"

Fortunately, they seem to get along better later in the ad, when they meet again in what appears to be an East German discotheque in 1983.

Let's Fix This Ad Right NowIf you don't understand why Jack's approach to Aimee is weird and wrong in the real world, let me introduce you to some common social rules of etiquette.

1. Try to read nonverbal signals. If someone looks uncomfortable, do not force conversation upon them.

2. Do not take pictures of someone without his or her permission. While it is legal, it is impolite.

I have met many women in my life while still following these two simple rules, and if you have trouble with them, I can introduce you to other men who have had social success while following them.

There's nothing inherently wrong with the idea of a guy seducing a lady with a Galaxy Gear (other than that it would never, in a million years, happen), just as the idea of introducing the Galaxy S4 in a fake Broadway musical wasn't automatically a bad idea. The problem is in how it's executed.

The actors in this commercial are as wooden as a new Moto X and appear to be speaking English as a third or fourth language. They deliver their lines reluctantly, with emotion that doesn't seem to match the script. Everything's tonally off. Aimee looks afraid through the first half of the commercial.

Let's rewrite it right here: On the ski lift, Aimee sees the Galaxy Gear on Jack's wrist and opens the conversation by asking him about it. Their eyes meet with a spark. They go to the snowboarding run together and she poses for him. Then it's off to the 1980s Communist disco! Solved. See the difference?

It's A Cultural Problem, Not A Sexual ProblemThis all harkens back, of course, to the disastrous "Unpacked" event where Samsung introduced the Galaxy S4. That event was bashed for its wierdly sexist skits that seemed to be a ham-handed attempt to riff on "Sex and the City."

The Verge had a great interview with the Broadway guys drafted to create that awful S4 presentation. The problem seems to be that Samsung executives in Korea are micromanaging much of the company's publicity without trusting writers and directors who know the cultural subtleties of target markets.

This is more subtle than a need to have more women on staff. I've met Samsung's communications team, and they're a pretty gender-balanced bunch. This is about cultural disconnects. It's obvious that "Are You Geared Up?" wasn't produced in an English-speaking country, from the cast's accents and breathtakingly Eurotrashy ski gear.

Samsung needs to understand that cultural values aren't the same everywhere, and what reads as funny or lighthearted to one country may look stiff, strange or even creepy in another. That even holds in countries with the same language - there's all sorts of stuff on British and Australian TV that wouldn't play the same here.

Brand values are one thing. If Samsung wants to communicate that the Galaxy Gear is sexy and for an active lifestyle, God help them, but that's a viable brand choice. The company needs to understand that we live in a big world. It already tries to make a different product for everyone; it's time to take that approach to its communication, as well.

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 9 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, one of the hosts of the daily PCMag Live Web show and speaks frequently in mass media on cell-phone-related issues. His commentary has appeared on ABC, the BBC, the CBC, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and in newspapers from San Antonio, Texas to Edmonton, Alberta.
Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer, having contributed...
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